PENDLETON — In just its third year of existence, Jackalope Jamboree is gearing up for a three-day country and Americana music festival at the Happy Canyon Arena in Pendleton.

The event features headliners each night. Reckless Kelly will kick things off Thursday, June 23, Turnpike Troubadours will travel to the stage Friday, June 24, and closing out the event on Saturday, June 25, is Mike & The Moonpies. Nearly 20 musical acts will take the stage during the festival.

According to Chad Colwell, one of the event’s organizers, if early ticket sales are any indication, this could be the best year yet. Landing Turnpike Troubadours, he said, “is kind of a big draw for us.” In less than a month, Colwell said they have more than doubled tickets sales as compared to all of last year.

Running on adrenaline from a successful inaugural event in 2019, Colwell and fellow organizers Rian Beach and Daren Lequerica announced in early 2020 plans to expand to two days for the second year.

And then the global pandemic pulled the plug, forcing the trio to wait until 2021 for their sophomore event. Even with some lingering restrictions and the sweltering heat, Colwell said more than 1,000 attended on the festival’s first day and a tick below that showed up for Saturday’s performances.

Colwell said early out of the chute, the idea was to move beyond a one-day event.

“We wanted to see this thing grow,” he said. “It was a goal at some point to expand and get bigger.”

However, they didn’t have to recreate the wheel in order to jump from one day to multiple days, Colwell said. A number of music festivals, he said, have created a sort of template for that, including the Braun Brothers Reunion (Challis, Idaho) and Hwy 30 Music Fest (Filer, Idaho).

Contributing factors to Jackalope Jamboree’s quick success, Colwell said, have been a supportive community, solid sponsorship and Travel Pendleton’s promotional efforts.

Another big draw, he said, is mixing up the lineup. In addition to national touring and traveling acts, Colwell said it’s important to include local musicians or those with ties to the region — that includes such talent as James Dean Kindle, Elwood and Tylor & the Train Robbers.

“Pendleton and Eastern Oregon has a tremendous music scene … there’s a lot of great music and we want to showcase them,” he said.

While two- and three-day packages have been on sale for nearly a month, single-day ticket options are available starting Monday, Feb. 21. For a link to ticket information, visit www.jackalopejamboree.com.

Also, with RV/trailer camping already selling out, organizers are trying to secure another location. He encouraged people to keep an eye on the event website and social media pages for updates.